Apparatus for the treatment of textile material



NOV. 26, 1968 H, F g ssflrgR 3,412,474

APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Dec. 9, 1966 L, L Q, SQ

3 1 r 2&2 4 13 5; 1 10 F193 14 Inventor:

HEINZ FLEI-SSNER RTVORNYI United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for the treatment of textile materials wherein sieve drums subjected to a suction draft provide the conveying surface for the material being treated said sieve drums being provided with a drum jacket with a large free area, thereby reducing the resistance of the sieve drums and substantially increasing the capacity of the apparatus for treating permeable materials.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for the treatment of textile material with a gaseous or liquid treatment medium which is circulated through the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a housing containing sieve drums subjected to a suction draft, said sieve drums advantageously containing a fine wire mesh surface which provides the conveying surface for the material being treated.

It has been found that with drying, heat-setting, thermosolizing, and similar treatments with a gaseous treatment medium as well as with washing, impregnating and the like, the best results are produced if the treatment medium is passed through the textile material to be processed. The treatment effect depends essentially upon the amount of treatment medium Which is passed through the textile material.

In the known devices which operate on the flowthrough principle, such as for example, in a dryer as well as in a wash bath, sieve drums are used as the conveying elements which, for an equalization of the treatment effect, are covered with a Wire mesh. In the case of readily permeable material such as loose wool, tricot materials and other easily permeable materials, the resistance of the sieve drum jacket is an undesirable factor which is often noticed. For reasons of stability it is not possible with these sieve drum jackets to have a free area of the drum jacket larger than about 50%. However, tests have shown that with readily permeable materials a substantial increase in capacity is possible with an extremely large free area in the conveying surface of the sieve drum.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art apparatus for the treatment of textile materials.

Another object of the present invention is to provide sieve drums with a surface containing as large a free area as possible thereby reducing the resistance to the flow of the treatment medium through the material being processed.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications Within the scope and spirit of invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Patented Nov. 26, 1968 "Ice Summary of the invention In accordance with the present invention it has been found that the resistance of the sieve drum can be substantially reduced if the free area of the drum jacket is about 60% or more of the appertaining drum jacket area. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to making the drum jacket of the sieve drum of a self-supporting wide-meshed wire material. It is also advantageous to make the drum jacket of the sieve drum with a wire mesh which rests on transverse struts which are preferably uniformly distributed over the circumference of the sieve drum. These struts are connected to the drum bottoms and function to reinforce and stiffen the wire mesh.

According to one embodiment of the present invention the drum jacket of the sieve drum can be made of expanded metal or designed in a honeycombed fashion, whereby the drum jacket may comprise cranked sheet strips which are connected with each other and which are arranged vertical to the drum jacket surface. A robust and simple drum construction results if the sieve drum is composed of two lateral bottoms Withflanged margins and a drum jacket which rests on the margins of the bottoms and is fastened, for example screwed, riveted or Welded to the margins. The drum jacket may in this case comprise a plurality of plates, for example, bent expanded metal plates.

With a large free drum area it is necessary to provide a fine Wire mesh cover around the drum so that loose fibers are not drawn into the drum and soil the heaters and in the case of tricot fabrics and the like the contact points of the material with the drum are not marked on the material. According to another embodiment of the present invention it is advantageous to use for the drum jacket only this fine, thin wire mesh cover which is tensioned in the direction of the drum axis in order to avoid bending and/or sagging in its middle. In still a further embodiment of the present invention it is desirable to fasten the Wire mesh to the flanged margins of the drum bottoms and to make the drum bottom adjustable and/ or readjustable in the axial direction so that an extension of the wire mesh can be compensated simply by adjusting the drum bottoms. Thus the wire mesh can be retensioned. According to a further embodiment of the present invention the Wire mesh is fastened at both sides to rings which are supported in the drum bottoms. The rings can be adjusted in the axial direction preferably by means of screws and the wire mesh can thus be readjusted and/ or retensioned. For devices which are subjected to relatively high heat differences and/or which operate with varying temperatures, it is, according to another embodiment of the present invention, desirable to compensate for the thermal expansion of the wire mesh by supporting at least one ring of each sieve drum resiliently in the axial direction. However, it is also possible to support one drum bottom resiliently in the axial direction of the drum and to provide for compensation in this manner.

Brief descriptionof the drawings The present invention will become fully understood from the detailed description herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given for purposes of illustration only and thus are not to be considered as limitative of the present invention and wherein FIGURE 1 is a cross section of a sieve drum dryer according to the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal section of a drum according to the present invention; and

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal section of a sieve drum dryer according to the present invention.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the various views to designate like parts, the apparatus of the present invention comprises a closed housing 1 which is subdivided by a partition 2 into a treatment chamber 3 containing sieve drums 4, and a fan chamber 5 containing fan wheels 6. Material 7 to be processed, for example to be dried, may be fed to the treatment chamber and discharged from the treatment chamber by means of conveyor belts 8. In the treatment chamber the material rests on the sieve drums and is held thereto by a suction draft.

The sieve drum comprises two lateral bottoms 9 and 10 with flanged margins 11 and 12. Instead of the flanged margins, a ring may also be welded to the bottoms. The two drum bottoms 9 and 10 are connected with each other by means of bolts and/or struts 13 whiuh are equally distributed around the circumference and which are provided with threads at their ends. For example, one end of the strut is provided with a left-hand thread and the other end is provided with a right-hand thread, so that depending on the direction of rotation of the strut, the distance between the two bottoms can be reduced or increased. A wire mesh 14 is provided as a drum jacket which is soldered or Welded to the drum bottoms and which can be put in tension by adjusting the drum bottoms. Another manner of tensioning the fine wire mesh 14 is shown in FIGURE 2 by the dashed line. The wire mesh is fastened to two rings 19 which can be adjusted axially to the drum bottoms by means of screws 20.

In each drum a baffle 15 is arranged in a known way, said bafile functioning to interruput the suction draft at that portion of the sieve drum which is free from the material being processed. For a good sealing it is desirable to provide the baffle laterally with elastic sealing strips which seal against the drum bottoms and/or the drum jacket. However, in many cases the elastic sealing strips can be dispensed with as it is sometimes advantageous if some of the off-air enters the drum at the ends of the baffles. The drum as well as the battle is supported on a stationary drum axis 16 in a known manner. The drum axis 16 rests on the fan side in a cast-iron spider 17 which is connected with and/or mounted to partition 2.

Heaters 18 may be arranged in a known way in the fan chamber above and beneath the fan wheels 6. Alternatively, they may also be arranged in the treatment chamber or in the case high capacities are desired, heaters may be provided both in the fan chamber and in the treatment chamber around the drum. This combined heater arrangement for high drying capacities is especially provided for easily air-permeable materials as the large free area of the sieve drum permits the passage of substantially larger air quantities through the material and a circulation of large air quantities in the housing 1.

Since modifications of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact constitution shown and described, Ac-

cordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for the treatment of textile materials with a gaseous or liquid treatment medium which comprises a closed housing, at least one cylindrical sieve drum rotatably disposed within said housing, the cylindrical surface of said sieve drum serving as a conveying means, said sieve drum containing lateral drum bottoms and a drum jacket comprising a fine wire mesh disposed on transverse struts which are uniformly distributed over the circumference of the sieve drum and Which are connected to said drum bottoms, the free area of said drum jacket comprising at least of the drum jacket area, inlet means for introducing the material to be treated to said conveying means, suction means communicating with the interior of the cylindrical sieve drum, and outlet means for removing the material being treated from the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the drum jacket of the sieve drum comprises expanded metal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the struts are provided with threads at their ends so that the distance between the drum bottoms can be increased or decreased depending upon the direction of rotation of the struts.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein heaters are provided in the path of the treatment medium.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lateral bottoms of the sieve drum are provided with flanged margins, the wire mesh of the drum jacket being fastened to said flanged margins, and said drum bottoms being adjustable and readjustable in the axial direction of the sieve drum.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein at least one drum bottom is resiliently supported in the direction of the drum axis.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the wire mesh is fastened to rings supported in the drum bottoms and adjustable in the axial direction by means of screws, said adjustment producing means for retensioning the wire mesh.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the drum jacket comprises a fine, thin wire mesh which is tensioned in the direction of the drum axis.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein at least one ring of each sieve drum is resiliently supported in the direction of the drum axis.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FREDERICK L. MATTESON, 111., Primary Examiner. A. D. HERRMANN, Assistant Examiner. 

